This agreement provides funding to the national housing trust (NHT) to identify two low-income, multifamily rental properties with a high prevalence of children with asthma and poor energy…

This agreement provides funding to the national housing trust (NHT) to identify two low-income, multifamily rental properties with a high prevalence of children with asthma and poor energy performance, and to implement remediation measures such as HVAC upgrades, mold remediation, and pest removal in these buildings. These efforts will demonstrate the effectiveness of combining decarbonization and healthy housing remediation to improve health outcomes for under-resourced children living in multi-family housing while reducing carbon emissions. This project will also demonstrate how these overall building upgrades will improve indoor air quality. Recent research has elevated the negative health impacts of fossil fuel combustion in buildings, including triggering asthma episodes in children. However, decarbonizing housing alone does not address all asthma causes. Using outside funding sources, NHT will adopt a collaborative problem-solving with community based organization (CBO) partners to conduct outreach and education about their efforts to improve healthy housing. Activities:this NHT project will include the following activities: a) identify two low-income multifamily rental properties with a high prevalence of children with asthma and poor energy performance; b) partner with a black, indigenous and people of color (bipoc)-led CBO and engage residents through community-facilitated discussions and development meetings; c) conduct healthy housing assessments and develop a scope of work; and d) implement remediation measures and e)disseminate project outcomes, lessons learned with recommendations for scaling and replicating this pilot program. In essence, this EPA grant will leverage an NHT-led decarbonization initiative aiming to identify separate funding sources for decarbonization upgrades in affordable multifamily housing. The partnering cbos will conduct education and outreach about this project, however, funding for these cbos is not included as part of this EPA funded project. Subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:the anticipated deliverables with intended beneficiary(IES) will include the NHT convening post-retrofit all-partner meetings to impart lessons learned from resident engagement activities and remediation upgrades. Additionally, CBO partners will determine best practice strategies for equitable resident engagement and healthy housing remediation in affordable housing. Moreover, the NHT will: a) write and disseminate a summary report of the project findings; b) provide project implementation recommendations for its CBO partners and property owners; and c) convey policy and program design recommendations for policymakers. The expected outcomes with intended beneficiary(IES) will include the leveraging of a larger NHT-led initiative, based on this proposal's project, to retrofit and decarbonize affordable housing. Launched in late-2022 and seeded with philanthropic funding, the initiative involves working with residents, property owners, lenders, and policymakers to scale up retrofits of multi-family properties, resulting in the preservation of affordable housing that is safer and healthier for residents, communities, and the planet. The outputs of this grant-funded project will include using the momentum of this proposal's project to convey best practices for the larger initiative. The outputs will focus on the goal of promoting systems change relative to how these retrofit projects are designed and developed in the district of columbia and nationwide. Intended beneficiaries of this healthy housing remediation include residents of communities with high concentrations of children with asthma in disadvantaged and predominantly bipoc neighborhoods of washington D.C.